Fairy Tale
by DragonHolder89
Summary: Sakura must save her family home. DisClaimer: I don't own Naruto.


Once upon a time There was a Peasant's daughter who lived in a hut in the shadows of a great black mountain. The hut was very small and very cold, because the Peasant was very poor and his wife spent every penny he earned on cakes and trifles and wine.  
One winter's day, the Wicked King came to the hut and called upon the Peasant to come out.  
'I have come for my rent,' King Kakashi informed the Peasant.  
'Please, sir,' the Peasant begged the King. 'I have no money left to pay you. May I pay you next month?'  
'Certainly not!' King Kakashi said angrily. 'If you cannot pay me now, I will take your daughter instead. She will make a fine wife for my son.'  
'No!' Sakura sobbed, for the Wicked King's son, the Ugly Prince, was a foul and evil man.  
King Kakashi paid Sakura no mind. 'I will return in one week for my money or your daughter,' he informed the Peasant. 'If neither is forthcoming, I will send my soldiers to remove you from this place.'  
After the Wicked King Kakashi had left, Sakura could not stop crying. She did not want to marry the Ugly Prince, but if she refused, her family would have nowhere to live. For she knew that her father was too poor to pay the King. 'Oh!' cried Sakura. 'What can I do?'  
Just then, a single tear fell from her cheek and landed upon a Dirty Brown Hen pecking at the ground, and all at once the Dirty Brown Hen changed into a Golden Peacock.  
'You must go to the Starmaker's palace at the top of the mountain,' the Peacock said to Sakura. 'You must sing for him, and he will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.'  
'But I cannot sing,' Sakura said.  
The Peacock spread its golden tail and shook it briefly at Sakura, and then, with a final flutter of its beautiful feathers, it was gone. And when Sakura opened her mouth and sang, it was the sweetest sound you've ever heard. 'The Peacock was right!' she cried happily. 'I can sing!'  
And so Sakura set off up the great black mountain to find the Starmaker's palace. The mountain was steep and treacherous, and there were thick dark forests where wolves and goblins and all manner of frightening creatures dwelled. But Sakura sang to herself as she travelled, and the beauty of her voice sent all the wild beasts to sleep.  
After some time, she came upon an Artful Merchant who was taking his goods to the market.  
'You sing very well,' the Merchant said to Sakura with an artful smile. 'If I had a wife with a voice such as yours, I would make her the richest wife in the world.'  
He was so artful and sly that Sakura could barely look at him. 'I will not marry you,' she said to him. 'I am going to sing for the Starmaker, for he will make me the richest girl in the world. And then I will not have to marry anyone' The Merchant laughed. 'The Starmaker may indeed make you rich, but he is not as Artful as I. Only I can truly make you the richest girl in the world.'  
'You?' Sakura exclaimed. 'How can you make you me the richest girl in the world?'  
The Artful Merchant drew a gold wedding ring from his pocket. 'All you must do is marry me, and when I place this ring on your finger, all your dreams will come true.' And with that he grasped Sakura's hand and began forcing the ring on to her finger. But he was only an Artful Merchant, and his artfulness gave him no strength, and it only took a moment for Sakura to push him away and run off up the mountain.

After running and running through the thick dark forests, Sakura came at last to the Walls of the Starmaker's Kingdom. The walls were high and made of stone, and the only way through them was by means of a great wooden gate. The gate was guarded by a Barefoot Giant.  
'Do you wish to enter the Starmaker's Kingdom?' the Giant bellowed at Sakura.  
'Oh, yes,' she replied.  
'Then you must fight me,' the Giant roared, raising his giant fists. 'But why?' cried Sakura.  
'For only the strongest may enter the Starmaker's Kingdom,' the Giant answered, gazing fearsomely into Sakura's eyes. 'That is why.'  
As Sakura looked back at the Giant, she thought of her mother and father, shivering in the cold of winter, and she thought how sad she would be if she were married to the Ugly Prince ...  
And without another word, she suddenly sprang at the Giant and stamped with both of her feet upon one of his giant-sized little toes. The Giant howled in pain, and as he bent over in agony to clasp his wounded foot, Sakura leaped over him and rushed through the great wooden gate into the Starmaker's Kingdom.  
When she came to the Starmaker's palace, a wonderful golden building at the top of the mountain, the Starmaker was waiting for her. He was a stern old man with long white hair and a shiny silver cape. 'Sing for me,' he demanded.  
Sakura sang, and her voice was as golden as the palace itself.  
The Starmaker nodded his head in approval. 'Do you wish to become rich beyond your wildest dreams?'  
'Oh, yes!' replied Sakura.  
'Then you must stay here forever,' he said. 'You must stay with me in my palace and never set foot beyond the door. You must obey me at all times. And you must never again speak to anyone else. Do you understand?'  
'But what about my poor mother and father?' Sakura said.  
'I will see to it that they keep their home,' the Starmaker assured her. 'But only if you agree to my terms. Your mother and father will be safe, but you can never see them again.'  
Sakura thought for a long time, trying to decide what to do, and eventually she said to the Starmaker, 'I will do as you say.'  
The Starmaker kept his word. He invited Kings and Queens from all around the world to hear Sakura sing, and she did indeed become very rich. She wore fabulous dresses and the finest gold jewellery, and she ate the richest food and slept in the softest beds. But it did not make her happy. For the Starmaker was a charmless man, and he worked her very hard and treated her very harshly. But, worst of all, Sakura had no one to talk to. She had no one to share her riches with. And although her father was very poor and her mother very greedy, she began to miss them terribly. And after a while she became so forlorn and miserable that she completely lost her mind. And early one morning, while the Starmaker was still sleeping in his bed, Sakura chopped off his head with an axe and ran away back to her poor little hut in the shadows of the great black mountain.  
Where she regained her mind and lived, not quite happily, ever after.


End file.
